New Delhi, Oct 21 (SocialNews.XYZ) The less than one-year-old Jannayak Janata Party (JJP), a breakaway faction of Indian National Lok Dal (INLD), seems to have performed well in the first Assembly elections in Haryana which it contested on Monday.
The JJP is headed by Ajay Chautala, former Deputy Prime Minister Devi Lal's grandson, who had a bitter split with his father and former four-time Haryana Chief Minister Om Prakash Chautala and brother Abhay Chautala, leading to his parting ways in December 2018.
According to IANS-CVoter Exit Poll, the JJP appears to have grabbed 16.6 per cent votes, against the BJP's 44.1 and Congress' 27.7 per cent.
The exit poll suggested that the party had got the maximum of 23.3 per cent votes in Bagar region, followed by 16.6 per cent in Jatland, 15.6 per cent in Kurukshetra and 13.2 per cent in Ahirwal.
The JJP contested all the 90 seats in the Assembly elections while its founder Ajay Chautala is in jail along with his father, serving a 10-year term, following their conviction in a teachers' recruitment scam.
Devi Lal, who was Deputy Prime Minister in both the V.P. Singh and Chandra Shekhar governments (1989-91), was regarded as a Jat leader with mass rural support.
The INLD, which ruled the state the last time from 2000 to 2004, was divided owing to differences between Ajay and Abhay Chautala. Their father remained with the younger son Abhay.
Of the INLD's 19 MLAs, four joined JJP.
After the split, Dushyant Chautala, a 31-year-old business administration graduate from California State University in the US, has been leading the party in the absence of his jailed father.
During his election campaign, he tried to strike an emotional chord with the people while targeting his estranged family for severing family ties.
He appealed to the voters by saying "the JJP is the real representative of the legacy of Devi Lal".
In his campaign, he would invoke his great grandfather Devi Lal, saying the late leader was popular among masses as "Jannayak" and that is why he included "Jannayak" in his party's name.
Dushyant Chautala focussed on the youth with a promise of more job opportunities.
The INLD knew the JJP would cause damage to it, prompting its 84-year-old patriarch Om Prakash to use an emotional pitch during campaigning while on parole which lasted till October 8.
"On October 8, I will be going back to jail after completing my parole and the responsibility of taking charge for elections is now on the shoulders of the workers," he said at an election programme.
He also talked about giving 33 per cent reservation to women.
Source: IANS
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